Renewable energy island

Just off the coast of Western Sahara, there is an island in the Atlantic Ocean. It is called El Hierro and belongs to Spain. In the near future, the entire population of the island (10,000 people) will use renewable energy. Not only this green initiative, but also the principle of energy production deserves attention.



Spanish company Gorona del Viento plans to install a wind farm. It will be located in the northern part of the island and will consist of 5 turbines. Windmills are nothing unusual, you might say. Well, yes, the mills are normal. An unusual way to store excess energy in the crater of a small volcano.



When the wind blows, everything is clear, the mills turn, electricity is generated. Some of this energy will be used to pump water into the crater of an extinct volcano. It serves as a reservoir, like dams on rivers. When the wind subsides, the water from the reservoir will gradually merge, and electricity will be obtained from the kinetic energy of the water moving down. Like hydropower.





According to the chief engineer of the International Renewable Energy Agency, Dolf Gielen, small islands are forced to switch to alternative energy sources.

Most of these islands are relatively small, so they need power plants of appropriate capacity and size. It is impossible to build a nuclear power plant or a large thermal power plant. There is one acceptable option – diesel power plants, but electricity is quite expensive. It turns out that 10-20% of all income of the island is spent on the purchase of fuel.

Source: thinkgreen.ru